William Petersen returns to the big screen

Image Credit: Tony Barson/WireImage.com William Petersen has accepted his first screen role since CSI, and his first part in a feature in 10 years. He’s joined Adrien Brody in the indie drama Detachment from American History X director Tony Kaye. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story centers on “a normally detached substitute teacher (Brody) who becomes invested in the students and teachers at the troubled school where he works and grows close to a homeless teen working as a prostitute.” Petersen, who’s focused on theater since leaving CSI, will play a history-teaching Vietnam vet who causes a stir when he shows a gay film in class to promote tolerance. Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks is a fellow teacher and potential love interest for Brody’s character, while Lucy Liu is the school’s frustrated psychologist.

This sounds like a meaty, layered role for Petersen, and the prospect of him acting opposite Brody, who shares his quiet intensity, is intriguing. Have you missed Petersen? Is this the right project to make his return? With Kaye at the helm, I’m not expecting the cliché feel-good troubled teen pic. He’s got me curious.